


the stars from your eyes

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Buckle up kids we’re retconning TLJ, Creepy Snoke (Star Wars), Evil Snoke, Force-Sensitive Poe Dameron, Heavy Angst, In a way, M/M, POV Poe Dameron, Poe Dameron Needs A Hug, Protective Kylo Ren, Snoke Being a Dick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-26 07:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14397642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Based on this prompt: “Force-Sensitive Poe: Canon divergence where Poe suddenly becomes aware that he's Force-Sensitive (is he Force Sensitive a lot? A little?) but he may not quite be strong enough to take on Kylo (or does he just want Kylo to believe that?). They fight--maybe Kylo taunts him, plays with him like Vader played with Luke in ESB--and Things Happen. Maybe they form some sort of connection?”





	1. Departure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blueteak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueteak/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Title of this fic taken from the Birthday Massacre song “Games”.

Ben was gone.

Poe couldn’t believe it had all happened so fast. Ben, of all people, gone. The Academy on Yavin IV had burned to the ground, and Ben was missing. Ben was gone.

There was nothing about this that was right. Just about all of it...

All of it was wrong.

And Luke had to drop that bomb on him that he was Force Sensitive. Of all the times to drop that bomb, Poe really couldn’t think of a worse time. What was he supposed to do with that, any of that, actually? Poe couldn’t think of it, actually.

There couldn’t have been a worse time to drop that bomb. Or, for that matter, for Luke to leave. To just run off with just that revelation — and nothing about what happened that night. The way Luke looked, he might as well have been ashamed.

What could he have even been ashamed about? Poe shuddered to even think about it. What had happened? Had he —

But he’d never, would he?

Right now, he was sitting in his room with BB-8 at his side, head in his hands. Ben was gone. Only eighteen and he was gone. And Poe had never really told him the truth...

And what could he tell him, really? How could he tell him that he loved him?

Poe sighed in frustration. He had to contact Maz Kanata. She was one of the few Force users left. He had to tell her the truth. He dialed his comm.

”Maz,” he said as her face came up on screen, “I’m in trouble.” A beat. “I’m Force Sensitive, Maz. I don’t know how, but...I need your help.”

***

It was on Snoke’s flagship the Supremacy that Kylo Ren, formerly Ben Solo, swore he felt something.

It was faint, but it was there. A thrumming of light, like that coming across a great distance, that he could feel even though the Supremacy was currently in hyperspace.

And he knew who it was. It was a familiar presence, pure and bright, thrumming in the Force.

Poe. Poe’s presence had always been pure, always been bright. It had been one of many things Ben envied him for, the ability to be so bright without being a Jedi.

And here he was. Force Sensitive. Of all the times to awake in the Force, this...

But he couldn’t kill Poe. No matter what happened. He didn’t know how he would resolve this, but he supposed that he would resolve this sooner or later.


	2. Undiluted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe learns the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Hey, everyone. Sorry this is so late, but let’s say...God, this is going to sound pathetic, but I’ve been going through some stuff that’s left me emotionally compromised. So I’ve been coping. Hopefully I’m back in style with this update.

Training wasn’t what you call easy. In fact, if anything, Poe would say that it was some of the hardest stuff that he had endured. But in the end, he’d do it, just to get the hang of the Force Sensitivity thing. 

He still had nightmares about that night. Ben disappearing, without so much as saying goodbye. Where had he gone? Maz seemed to know, but she was being infuriatingly cryptic about it. 

In the meantime, he wrote letters. He wrote a lot of unsent letters to Ben. Talking about his training. 

 _And even despite all this, it doesn’t feel right without you,_ he wrote one night.  _We shouldn’t just be the team, Solo and Dameron, like we always were, but...more than that._

_The truth is, Ben, I love you._

_I think it really started when you were eighteen, after my attempts to date didn’t really work out. I started noticing the small things — the way your hand would brush with mine, the way you laughed, and it was like sunlight broke over your face. I know it sounds cheesy, Ben, but dammit, it’s true._

_I love you. I still do. And I swear — sometimes I’m lost without you. Best I can do is keep training. Keep fighting. I’m not going to give up on making sure you’re okay._

_Love you always,_

_Poe_

Poe sighed. All of it came out too fast; he was exhausted now. And he wondered if it was too dramatic — but all of it was so real, he knew that much. 

Maz walked up to him. Then, “Are you well, Poe?”

”Yeah.”

”You miss Ben.” Maz said. 

“How do you know?”

Maz sighed. “I see your eyes. I saw them before, from others whose loved ones left them behind. You forget I lived throughout the ages, Poe. I saw the rise and fall of the Sith, the Empire...there will always be evil. But there will always be good to combat it.” A beat. “There are always more good people than bad.”

”Can’t disagree with that,” Poe said. Then, “Maz...what happened to Ben?”

Maz took a deep breath. Then, “I think you’d best sit down.”

Poe did. 

Maz sighed. “The night of the attack, Luke Skywalker came to me. He said that he had gone to...confront Ben. He said that Snoke had twisted his mind. And I knew that he was hiding something. When I got it out of him, I learned that he had considered killing Ben, and Ben had picked it up from his mind and run to Snoke. I can only conclude that he saw Snoke as a source of safety.”

”Luke...” It was hard to wrap his mind around. Poe had known that Luke had hated Ben — or so Ben had told him; he remembered Ben confiding in him about how he just seemed to sense the sheer hatred coming from his uncle, the fear — but this? Luke had all but cost him the young man he loved because he had been afraid?

Maz continued. "He tried...explaining himself. But I saw his eyes. Ben wasn’t the only one Snoke had claimed. In a way, Snoke must have been finishing what the Emperor began, and when he failed, he took Ben under his wing as a substitute.”

”Ben...fell?”

Maz sighed. “I’m sorry.”

”Why didn’t you tell me?”

”Some things defy explanation,” Maz said. “Some pains can’t be diluted.”

Poe sighed. “I think I’m gonna throw up.”

Maz merely nodded. 

Poe found the fresher and puked into it until he swore he was wrung dry. Finally, he sat back, wiped his mouth. Luke had failed Ben in one of the worst ways possible. Now...

Now he had to bring him back. 

Not to Luke. But to safety. 

And Poe would deliver on that promise to the last. 


End file.
